Electronic coupon creation deployment, transference, validation management, clearance, redemption and reporting system and interactive participation of individuals and groups within the system

ABSTRACT

This invention relates generally to electronic commerce (e-commerce) systems and media platforms, for use with both mobile and non-mobile systems, to deploy virtual advertising and promotion via the use of electronic coupons, and more particularly a method and system for creating, deploying, transferring, clearing, managing, redeeming and reporting on the use of electronic coupons or virtual electronic rebates (VeeBates) and permitting individuals and groups within one or more social communications networks to participate in and transmit information to others about their activities related to the virtual advertising, incentives, redemption and promotion.

PRIORITY

THIS APPLICATION CLAIMS THE PRIORITY OF U.S. PROVISIONAL APPLICATION61/164,793 DATED Mar. 30, 2009.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains materialwhich is or may be subject to copyright protection. The copyright ownerhas no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patentdocument or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent andTrademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves allcopyright whatsoever in all forms currently known or otherwisedeveloped.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to electronic commerce(“e-commerce”) systems and media platforms which may be either mobile ornon-mobile (eg. PCs, etc.) to assist in and become part of a marketingnetwork, as well as their use in conjunction with a socialcommunications network to permit individuals and groups (“Participants”)to interactively participate in virtual advertising and promotion. Morespecifically, the present invention relates to virtual advertising andpromotion via the use of electronic coupons, and more particularly amethod and system for creating, deploying, transferring, clearing,managing, redeeming and reporting on the use of electronic coupons,rewards or virtual electronic rebates (“VeeBates”) over electronicnetworks. In this context, a coupon is any ticket or document, whetherin tangible, electronic or virtual format, that can be exchanged for afinancial discount, rebate or other similar benefit when purchasing aproduct or undertaking a requested or “pushed” activity and/or obtained(“pulled”) in order to receive a benefit.

The present invention also relates to the obtaining and use ofinformation about actions taken by Participants to permit targetedVeeBates. The present invention further relates to the transfer and/orresale, auction and/or the barter of VeeBates between Participants andthe use of VeeBates to permit other persons to become Participants.

The present invention also relates to the use of VeeBates individuallyand/or within a social network environment, including, but not limitedto their use as virtual funds, divisible funds, charitable donations,group common interest aggregation funds, alternate currency funds andtransferable virtual assets. Within the social network environment,VeeBates can also be used as direct and indirect motivational elementsby permitting others within the social network environment to be advisedas to what one of the members is doing or has done and the resultanteffect. Thus, members can be told that another has received a VeeBatefor having purchased something (or been “pushed” to purchase or dosomething) and that they can similarly participate. This can further beenhanced by the use of social network “influencers” who are individualswho are followed by others within a social network and whose actions,activities and comments carry weight and cause others to follow andoften emulate what the “influencers” do.

In a traditional retail marketing situation, a coupon is a advertisementbased promotion, usually in a paper form, that can be exchanged for afinancial discount or rebate when purchasing a product or service. C WPost first introduced the concept of a coupon in the United States in1909 in conjunction with the sale of breakfast cereals and otherproducts. It was designed to help promote the sale of the particularproduct and often also promote the sale of related products from thesame manufacturer.

Coupons are often widely distributed through mail, magazines, newspapersand the Internet and are designed to be redeemed at a retailestablishment when the goods or services to which they relate arepurchased. Customarily, coupons are issued by manufacturers of consumerpackaged goods or by retailers, to be used in retail stores as a part ofsales promotions.

Various sales promotion mechanisms exist like prizes, contest,sweepstakes, rewards, games, free samples, product warranties, tie-inpromotions, loyalty points, cross-sell, up-sell, premium, memberships,card discounts and gift certificates. These have been used for a longtime to retain loyal customers, increase the repurchase rate ofoccasional items, attract new buyers, manage inventory and gain market.We refer to all these mechanisms and others, such as instant discountwhich is similar to haggling or negotiations in the real world, as“coupons” in this invention.

With the advent of Internet shopping, the electronic equivalent ofcoupons have also come into existence. Internet coupons have become verypopular as of late, because the cost is borne by the user (who has toprint the coupons themselves) rather than the businesses issuing thecoupons. There are generally three types of models that are currentlypossible (although others which may become operative later are withinthe scope of this invention):

-   (a) coupons that are issued at an e-commerce site and redeemed at a    physical store;-   (b) those issued and redeemed at a single e-commerce site; and,-   (c) others that are issued at one e-commerce site and redeemed at    another e-commerce site.    The most general electronic coupon generation, presentation,    redemption and clearing system should allow a consumer to collect    electronic coupons while doing online shopping, or otherwise    visiting an e-commerce site, from various e-commerce sites and    redeem these coupons online at any e-commerce site or physical    store, satisfying the purchase conditions of the offer. The clearing    between the issuing and redeeming e-commerce sites should also be    electronic, whether off-line or online. The issuing e-commerce site    is commonly referred to as the manufacturer and the redeeming    e-commerce site is referred to as the retailer.

However, there can also be different classes of coupons based upon theidentity issuing authority (i.e. manufacturer or retailer), whether thecoupon is targeted to a set of potential customers or untargeted, andwhether the number of coupons to be distributed is limited or unlimited.The various classes of coupons serve different purposes. For example,coupons issued by a manufacturer to a group of loyal customers inlimited numbers could be intended to retain those loyal customers.Coupons issued by a manufacturer in untargeted mass distribution couldbe intended to attract buyers for a new product, and coupons issued by aretailer in untargeted limited distribution could be intended to attractcustomers to a retail outlet.

Normally, when a manufacturer or a retailer issues coupons on a productor a service, a coupon is expected to be used only for that product orservice. To save coupon creation and management costs, or to attract newbuyers, a manufacturer or retailer may decide to honor the couponsissued by another party. This is referred to as cross-coupon honoring.

In a generic form, electronic coupon systems must allow a buyer tocollect electronic coupons while doing on-line shopping (or otherwisevisiting an e-commerce site) from various e-commerce sites, and toredeem these coupons on-line at any e-commerce site or physical store,satisfying the purchase conditions of the offer.

Currently, there are several categories of coupon providers within themarket. Loyalty coupon providers are usually reliant on others withinthe value chain and are heavily anchored to online malls, where thetransactions are seen at or near real time. They are unable to viewoffline or in-store offers without being associated with an issuing bankor other institution. Although they might want to provide in-storemerchant benefits, they are generally not capable of doing so and areonly capable of offers that are a flat percentage. Examples of suchentities are Edo Interactive, Cardlytics and Vesdia.

Another category of coupon providers are those who provide mobilecoupons to consumers. These mobile coupon providers generally work witha manufacturer or retailer to send location based offers. They areconcerned only with the delivery of the offer and not its redemption.Thus, these mobile coupon providers send off-line, merchant fundedoffers and provide downloadable applications to the mobile devices.However, they rely on bar coded delivery, thus forcing point of sale(“POS”) revisions, either by manual entry of the coupon specifics or achange in the hardware or software at the POS. Examples of such entitiesare Cellfire, HipCricket and Yowza.

Internet sites have coupons that can be used on line. Examples ofcompanies which provided on line coupons include Cool savings(www.coolsavings.com), E-centives (www.ecentives.com) and CatalinaMarketing International, Inc. (www.catalina-marketing.com). Severalpatents have been issued (e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,761,648; 6,321,208; and6,584,448). These companies and others provide the capability oftargeting and delivering on line print-at-home coupons, or coupons thatare printed in-store, to motivate in-store sales. On line retailersusually refer to Internet coupons as “coupon codes,” “promotionalcodes,” “promotion codes,” “discount codes,” “key codes,” “promo codes,”“shopping codes,” “voucher codes” or “source codes.” Internet couponstypically provide for reduced or no cost shipping, a specific dollar orpercentage discount, or some other special offer to encourage rewardmember 1s to purchase specific products or to purchase from specificretailers.

U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20060194569 discloses a processfor delivering electronic coupons over a wireless network. A wirelessnetwork enables user registration, during which the user providesprofile information, such as user name and address, etc, to anadministration of the wireless network, such as at a Wifi hot spotlocation, the wireless network then associates the user with his/herprofile information submitted during registration. The profileinformation is used to identify targeted or personalized electroniccoupons for the user, and those targeted electronic coupons aretransmitted to the user over the wireless network. The user selects oneor more of the targeted electronic coupons, and transmits this selectionover the wireless network to a dedicated server, which transmits arequest to the user, who then inputs a code, such as a mobile telephonenumber or an access code for a PDA, associated with the mobilecommunication device then being used by the user. Upon receipt of thiscode, the server within the wireless network, then transmits informationassociated with the selected electronic coupons to the mobilecommunication device associated with the inputted code. Suchinformation, such as a unique coupon code and/or information summarizingthe coupon and the goods or services to which it relates is sufficientto enable a store to clear the selected coupons during an in-storecheckout procedure. However, the retailer continues to be intimatelyinvolved in the redemption and clearing process, thereby increasing theerror factor and cost to the retailer. It may also result in customerdissatisfaction in the event that the retail employee does not properlyinput data or otherwise causes the clearing to be delayed.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,993,326, to Link et al discloses a method fortransmitting advertisement coupons associated with respectiveadvertisers over a wireless network to wireless communications devices.The wireless network is in communication with an advertisements databaseincluding advertisement coupons and a user database includingidentification data of wireless communications device operating in thewireless network. Advertisement coupons to be transmitted to thewireless communications device are stored in a pending database and anadvertisement coupon is transmitted over a reverse control channel. Thetransmitted advertisement coupon is from an account associated with therespective advertiser sponsoring the advertisement coupon, or may befrom a storage database containing such coupons.

Traditional distributors of coupons are similarly turning to electronicmarketing to permit reward member 1s to access a data base and obtaincoupons or “electronic certificates” over online networks. Inparticular, News America Marketing Properties has found that consumersare gaining direct access to data bases for information andentertainment, whether through phone lines and coaxial cable or bywireless connections from cell systems and satellites. With thisso-called “online” access, consumers can use data bases for a range ofactivities at virtually any time. Besides granting freedom to theconsumer, online access gives added efficiencies to companiesmerchandising products and services, whether those products are solddirectly to the consumer by mail or in a store.

At the same time, various types of transactions are currentlyconsummated using certificates such as coupons, tickets, etc. Thesecertificates typically contain transaction data describing theparticular transaction (e.g., in the case of a coupon, the transactiondata would include a product description, the coupon amount, and theexpiration date). These certificates also typically containidentification data such as various numbers, letters, barcodes or othersymbols sufficient to uniquely identify each certificate.

As noted by Frost & Sullivan in its December 2009 report entitled WhenMobile Coupons Replace Paper Coupons, Everybody Wins:

-   -   “Mobile coupons are the next step in the evolution of the coupon        industry. They present new opportunities for the mass        distribution of promotional messages to a large number of reward        member 1s. Some of the drivers of mobile coupon solutions are as        follows:        -   Solving the portability problem of paper and Internet            coupons consumers always have their mobile phones with them        -   Presentation of relevant, personalized offers to reward            member 1s        -   Extremely low cost of campaign        -   Pervasiveness of text messaging    -   Some possible implementations of mobile coupon solutions are as        follows:        -   Unique numerical coupon codes downloaded and managed by            dedicated applications on mobile handsets.        -   Barcodes downloaded to the handset in different formats and            read at the POS by capable readers. Interestingly, the            reader itself could be a camera-equipped mobile phone.        -   Special numbers or UPCs downloaded to the handset and            redeemed by the visual or electronic confirmation of the            coupon code.        -   Directional coupons—these are special uniform resource            locators (URLs) embedded in barcodes, distributed either in            print or available on the packaging of products. They are            scanned by camera-equipped mobile phones that also have a            software client to decode the information. The URL is then            used by the web browser in the mobile phone to establish a            connection to a relevant website (or to the premium mobile            content itself, if available at a discount).        -   The use of near field communications (NFC) RFID chips in a            phone, so that a promotional coupon can be “read” by the            phone and then used at the store. This is not expected to            happen until retailers install NFC readers in retail            outlets.    -   One of the most significant challenges for barcode-based mobile        coupon solutions is the implementation of new scanning hardware        at the retail POS. Such hardware is expensive to install;        moreover, the lack of volume has not yet been able to justify        the investments in such solutions. This has been a major cause        for the limited adoption of mobile coupons at the retail POS.        Successful mobile coupon solutions should require little or no        change at the retail end for maximum adoption.”

New America has determined that there was a need for creation of anonline “electronic certificate” that can be used for promotional ortransactional purposes, much as coupons have been used in suchtraditional marketing vehicles as newspapers and mail packs. Beyondoffering a discount as an incentive to buy a feature product, the couponis also currency, printed in quantities limited by the issuer and oftencarrying unique serial numbers, expiration dates and “source codes”which indicate the means by which it was distributed (e.g. newspaper,mail list, in-store dispenser, etc.), so issuers can track theeffectiveness of each marketing medium.

Known coupon dispensing systems, for example, fail to interactivelycommunicate between a service center and a third party, as pointed outin U.S. Pat. No. 5,303,197 to Axler. While the Axler patent permits anoperator to periodically “visit” a dispensing machine, this does notallow “real time” interactivity (e.g., it does not permit the operatorto access and analyze demographical data contemporaneous with itsinput). Nor does Axler envision the creation of an online “electroniccertificate” and system for incentive and consumer matching through theretailer sales log and a card issuer transaction log, with concomitantconsumer reward application and social communication, as is contemplatedand disclosed by one aspect of the current invention and as will bedescribed as an example below.

U.S. Pat. No. 7,401,032 shows a data processing system and method whichseeks to emulate the attributes of a coupon over an online network(i.e., an “electronic coupon” is created). The direct access toconsumers provides issuers a greater degree of control in targeting theoffer, restricting its use and tracking both the selection andredemption process and makes it possible for service providers, such asrestaurants and hotels, to use an online electronic certificate as apromotional means and a way to lower overhead in providing suchtransactions as dining, travel and ticket reservations. However, thesystem requires the consumer to access and select the coupon, in muchthe same way as they would select coupons from a newspaper or magazine.This continues to result in the creation of ads and coupons that may beof no significance or use to consumer or which may not be effectivelyaccessed by the consumer at the time they are needed or wanted (e.g.during the redemption process). Moreover, such coupons continue toinclude the redeeming entity (usually the retail store, hotel orrestaurant, by way of example) in the verification and redemption streamand require it incur the overhead, albeit somewhat reduced, ofreclaiming the coupons.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,420,606 to Begum et al. for “Instant Electronic CouponVerification System” describes an instant electronic coupon verificationsystem for a single physical store, where the store provides shopperswith an electronic device to view, select and store from a plurality ofcoupons and later redeem the coupon on reaching a checkout counter,based on items purchased. This is also limited only to physical storesand does not talk about any targeted coupon distribution.

The effectiveness of coupons can be greatly improved by targeting aspecific profile of customers for coupons of specific products. Amongtargeted coupons, U.S. Pat. No. 5,502,636 to Clarke for “PersonalizedCoupon Generating and Processing System” proposes a personalized coupongenerating and processing system which identifies a group of consumersthat are likely to be responsive to coupons of predefined products andthen distribute the coupons.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,909,673 to Gregory for “Method and System for CreatingSite Specific Coupons at a Plurality of Remote Locations Which areControlled by a Central Office” proposes a central server connected tomultiple remote sites to allow the retailers to be able to customizediscounts and coupon details according to the particular store location.A general coupon template is loaded onto the central server alone, withsite specific information to be printed on each coupon. A particularremote processing station at a remote site can call in to the centralserver and download the general coupon template and the site specificinformation for that particular site. The remote processing station thencombines the template with the site specific information and prints thesite specific coupon. These inventions describe mechanisms only forgeneration of targeted coupons, without any mention of online couponredemption, verification and clearing.

Recent wireless couponing techniques and processes are reflected in U.S.Pat. No. 7,308,254 to Rissanen for “Wireless Electronic CouponingTechnique” and U.S. Pat. No. 7,640,183 to Burns for “Electronic CouponProcessing System”. The former describes a methodology comprising andsupporting wireless coupons that may be downloaded, viewed, credited(used) in electronic format throughout their distribution life cycle.The coupons are stored, carried and used in a wireless mobile terminalsuch as a mobile phone. The electronic coupons may be delivered to theterminal by methods including: downloading to the terminal from theInternet; pushing to the terminal by e-mail-type messages; downloadingto the terminal by a short-range radio link such as Bluetooth; orscanning from a printed paper by using a (built in or external) scannerin a mobile terminal, or via an infrared link or by other methods. Theymay also be downloaded from a wireless LAN connection.

The patent indicates that an important distinction from previousInternet coupons and print coupons is the fact that the coupon files arestored in the memory of the mobile terminal, or a coupon ID numberstring is stored in the mobile terminal and the visual representationmay be downloaded separately from a network server as needed or whenexcess bandwidth capacity exists. Thus, the coupon files are easilycarried by the consumer at all times, and are readily available as theneed rises (like when visiting a retail store, a restaurant, gasstation, etc.). During a visit to a retail outlet, the consumer takesout his/her mobile terminal, initiates a coupon match sequence thatcompares the coupon files stored in the terminal with the promotionseffective at the retail outlet. If a match is found, i.e., the consumercarries an electronic coupon that justifies a discount, the point ofsale (POS) terminal calculates a discount to the prices of the goods tobe purchased, or grants other specified benefits to the coupon bearer.The mobile terminal and the POS terminal may exchange the electroniccoupon information in the following ways: a wireless digital short-rangeradio link such as Bluetooth, via an infrared data link, or via bar codescanning by the POS terminal from the mobile terminal display.

The second identified patent describes a coupon database containingcoupon information that is associated with a specific consumer. Thiscoupon database is operated in conjunction with a system for recordinginformation concerning products that are purchased by a consumer at aparticular store. Using the new generation of bar code scanningregisters, the information from the register system is reconciled withinformation from the coupon database in order to give the particularconsumer credit for coupons that are attributed to his or her account.The coupon database is subsequently updated to reflect the transactionsand the discounts given to the consumer. The consumer information,including both the information relating to coupons and the informationrelating to products purchased, can be added to a database for marketinganalysis. This consumer information would be associated with aparticular consumer. The compilation of this information for variousreward members at any store provides invaluable data that can be used toimprove products or marketed independently. The information generatedfor each consumer at the register when the consumer makes his or herpurchases and the coupon database reconciliation is then be forwardedelectronically to the manufacturers for rebates to the vendor. In use, aparticular consumer “clips” or acquires coupons and brings them in to aparticular store for scanning or other means of entry into the coupondatabase. The coupon data entry can be performed by the consumer or bythe store. See also: U.S. Patent Application Publication No.2009/0307067 to Obermeyer for “Location Based Coupon Delivery System”.

Various methods and systems have been proposed for electronic coupongeneration, management and redemption at a single e-commerce site. U.S.Pat. No. 5,894,520 to Nielsen for “Method and System for RegulatingDiscounts on Merchandise Distributed Through Networked Computer Systems”describes a method and a system for regulating discounts on merchandise,at a vendor location, through networked computer systems. The systemincludes a user computer and a vendor computer connected via a networkwhen a user purchases merchandise, the vendor issues an encrypteddiscount coupon for repurchase of the merchandise. When user desires torepurchase the merchandise, user sends a request to the vendor alongwith the encrypted coupon. The vendor verifies the coupon and gives thediscount. An earlier paper by the authors (M. Kumar, A. Rangachari, A.Jhingran, and R. Mohan, “Sales Promotions on the Internet”, Third USENIXWorkshop on Electronic Commerce, Boston, 31 Aug. 3 Sep. 1998, pp. 167176) describes a form of sales promotion for online merchants callede-coupons. A buyer need not print e-coupons as they can be capturedelectronically in an electronic coupon-wallet, and later redeemedelectronically on the same on-line store. They solve the issue oftargeted, limited online distribution and redemption of electroniccoupons at a single online store, but it is not clear how they canhandle coupons issued by a manufacturer which may get redeemed at anyonline store, nor does it disclose any redemption process whichby-passes the traditional active involvement of the retailer or permitsissuer based redemption in a matched offer context.

Consumer online activity may also be tracked to permit offers to bepresented to the consumer. U.S. Patent Application Publication No.2009/0216579 to Zen for “Tracking On-Line Advertising Using PaymentServices” discusses a system wherein using a payment service is used toidentify completion of activities associated with offers extended tousers through online advertising. Online activity of a user is tracked,and offers associated with advertisements presented to the user areidentified. The offers generally include rebates and/or incentivesextended to the user in exchange for the user performing a desiredactivity, such as purchasing an advertiser's product or service.Information regarding the offer (and, in some cases, the online activitygenerally) is stored. Additionally, information regarding the offer iscommunicated to a payment service that facilitates payment using paymentcards, such as credit cards and debit cards, for instance, or otherpayment mechanisms. Through transactions performed by the user using theuser's payment card or other payment mechanism, the payment serviceidentifies when the user has performed the activity associated with theoffer. In some embodiments, information regarding completion of theactivity is associated with the information regarding the offer and/orthe user's online activities. Additionally, in some embodiments, therebate and/or incentive for the offer is provided to the user based oncompletion of the desired activity. See also: U.S. Patent ApplicationNo. 2009/0287558 to Seth for “Electronic Coupon Tracking”.

Several centralized service provider based systems have also beenproposed for giving merchandise discounts. These systems do not issueany coupons to the customer, but just offer various discounts when thecustomer visits the retailer store for shopping. U.S. Pat. No. 5,185,695to Pruchnicki for “Method and System for Handling Discount Coupons byUsing Centrally Stored Manufacturer Coupons in Place of Paper Coupons”describes a method and system for handling discount coupons by usingcentrally stored manufacturer coupons in place of paper coupons, to savecosts of printing and distributing and clearing paper coupons. Themethod and apparatus includes a central processor that receivesinformation of product type, validation period and coupon value frommanufacturers and produces a central coupon list of available coupondiscounts. The central list is transmitted to retailers who produces alocal coupon list based on the central list containing only thosemanufacturers and product type which the retailer holds for sale. Thecustomer buys a product and as the product is moved through the checkoutstation, coupon discount, if any applicable, is deducted from the retailprice. The central processor directly bills the manufacturer ortransfers funds.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,924,080 to Johnson for “Computerized Discount RedemptionSystem” describes a similar method of giving merchandise discounts byusing a membership system comprising of a centralized system provider,multiple manufacturers, multiple merchants and multiple customers. Butnone of these systems are doing any targeted discounts; they are justgiving discounts on the customer purchases without issuing any couponsto the customer at all, hence they do not describe any coupondistribution, redemption or verification mechanisms.

Another mechanism of giving merchandise discounts is in the form oftransaction points. U.S. Pat. No. 5,923,016 to Fredregill et al. for“In-Store Points Redemption System & Method” describes a computerimplemented consumer transaction point accumulation system in which aconsumer earns and accumulates points immediately for immediate useduring transactions at participating retailer outlets, wherein at eachtransaction, a customer's identification number is transmitted to acentral system which stores customer records including a customerbalances of points accumulated to date. This does no targeting and isonly limited to one form of coupons i.e. transaction points and is not asolution for a generic coupon that can be in the form of price-packs,cross-selling, gift certificates, and the like, nor does it do anyredemption which reduces the retailer involvement in the redemption orverification process

An e-commerce site, www.planetu.com, provides targeted offers that thereward member 1 has the opportunity to select. After selecting theiroffers online, consumers receive them either by mail or redeem them atsupermarkets with modem point-of-sale systems by swiping their frequentshopper card, the offers being automatically deducted at the point ofsale. This system does targeted coupon distribution, but coupons can beredeemed only at physical retail shop, thus continuing to involve theretailer in the redemption, verification and crediting process. Besides,it requires the reward member 1s to have a frequent shopper membershipand the central server to maintain all coupon and reward member 1selection details.

Smart-card based coupon management and redemption systems have also beenproposed such as U.S. Pat. No. 5,727,153 to Powell for “Retail StoreHaving a System of Receiving Electronic Coupon Information from aPortable Card and Sending the Received Coupon Information to OtherPortable Cards” for single physical retail store, U.S. Pat. No.5,905,246 to Fajkowski for “Method and Apparatus for Coupon Managementand Redemption”, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,380,991 to Valencia et al. for“Paperless Coupon Redemption System and Method Thereof” for targetedmerchandise price markdown. The limitation of these systems is that theyonly talk about physical stores and the user has to carry a smart card.

An electronic coupon issuing, redemption, verification and clearingsystem, was proposed in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,855,007 to Jovicic et al.for “Electronic Coupon Communication System”. This system comprises afirst Internet node, an Internet coupon server and an Internet couponnotification center. The Internet coupon server generates a uniqueInternet coupon using a coupon generation process. The Internet couponserver accepts an on-line selection of one of the available uniqueInternet coupons from a user of the Internet node and transmits thecoupon back to the user's printing device or e-mail storage. It thenrecords the transaction in its coupon database and notifies thetransaction to the Internet Coupon Notification Center. The InternetCoupon Notification Center subsequently records the transaction.Furthermore, a coupon redemption center can electronically verify couponvalidity and record coupon redemption by communicating with the InternetCoupon Notification Center. It handles online targeting, generation,redemption and verification of electronic coupons between a manufacturerand a plurality of retailers, but it is not clear how it handles fraudssuch as a customer or a retailer colluding with the Notification Centeror coupons from a plurality of manufacturers.

Systems are proposed in U.S. Patent Application Publication No.2009/0265228 to Sterling for “Point of Sale Coupon System and Methods”which can enable merchants and issuers of credit cards or other paymentdevices to cooperate in offering incentives to consumers. For example, aconsumer who uses a particular credit card at a particular merchant maybe offered a coupon, discount, or other kind of incentive to be appliedto a future purchase made with the same card at the same merchant. Theissuer and merchant may participate in such a system in order toencourage reward consumers to repeatedly use the issuer's card and torepeatedly patronize the merchant. In accordance with embodiments of theinvention, consumer is given the opportunity to accept or decline theoffer. The merchant, issuer, or both, may track the acceptance rate ofthe offers for marketing purposes, for example to learn which kinds ofoffers are most often accepted and therefore may be most effective atgenerating repeat patronage. Also, offers that are declined need not beconsidered future obligations on the part of the offeror. Conveniently,the offer is presented to the consumer on a display screen of acontent-capable point of sale device, and the consumer's indication ofacceptance or decline of the offer is read using the point of saledevice.

Similarly, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2009/0254428 toSterling for “Systems and Methods for Delivering Advertising Content toPoint of Sale Devices” discusses a system for delivering content to auser is disclosed. The system may include a point of sale device, a widearea network, and a payment processing system. The point of sale devicemay be configured to receive information regarding a transaction, andcommunicate content to the user. The wide area network may be incommunication with the point of sale device. The payment processingsystem may be in communication with the wide area network, and may beconfigured to receive the information regarding the transaction,determine advertising content based at least in part on the information,and transmit the determined advertising content to the point of saledevice.

There are presently in excess of over one billion global mobilesubscribers and over 100 million mobile data subscribers. Subscribershaving multimedia messaging services (MMS) equipped mobile terminalssuch as smart phones, phone enabled PDA's, and phone enabled pocket PC's(mobile terminal) can access the Internet via various wireless protocols(e.g. wireless access protocol (WAP), i-Mode, etc.) to download data(“content”) from websites. Content includes text, audio and still andvideo images. MMS is an extension to short message service (SMS)protocol, and it defines a way to send and receive wireless content.

Many of these terminals are able to download and display streaming videoover various “third generation” (3G) GSM (global system for mobilecommunications) based high speed data networks (e.g. “EDGE”—EnhancedData Rates for GSM Evolution, “EV-DO”—Evolution Data Optimized,“UMTS”/“W-CDMA”—Universal Mobile Telecommunications System/Wideband CodeDivision Multiple Access) Subscribers are charged for the quantity ofcontent downloaded, the time spent downloading the content, or a flatmonthly fee. Fourth generation devices are rapidly making inroads intothe bandwidth and have increased the functionality of what can beaccomplished with a mobile device.

Bluetooth is a standard wireless (short range radio link) technologythat operates in the unlicensed 2.4 GHz ISM band and which allows usersto make connections between like enabled mobile terminals and computers.It is a global standard that is supported by leaders intelecommunications and reward member 1 electronics. According toBluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) over 1 million enabled devicesship each week, and SIC estimates that as of 2007 nearly 50% of allmobile phones in the United States were Bluetooth enabled.

Competition between wireless service providers is fierce. Serviceproviders compete on points of differentiation, including terminalvariety, applications, “coverage” (the cellular geographic servicearea—CGSA) and price, both of the terminal itself and calling plans. Toprovide differentiation and to enhance the user experience, serviceproviders enter into agreements with Internet service providers toenhance the subscriber's mobile Internet experience. Service providersand Internet service providers can earn money for advertising presentedduring a wireless Internet session, and advertisers may motivate someoneto buy their product/service, build brand awareness, etc. However,consumers are not always on the Internet and often are in situationswhere an advertiser would wish to attract consumers to their product,build brand identity, and make sales. For example, persons in malls areoften there to spend money, but may not be aware of a sale in aparticular department store. Visual advertising, at eye level, promotinga sale at a store in the mall may catch the eye of a shopper whilestanding in line waiting to make a purchase. Sandwich board advertisingwas the location-based advertising of yesteryear. Today, serviceproviders using various location-based technologies, handset centric(e.g. global positioning system (GPS), cell of origin (COO)) and networktechnologies (e.g. time of arrival (TOA)) to deliver information (i.e.advertising) to mobile terminal users that is relevant to the user'slocation (e.g. nearest ATM to subscriber). The newly informed person maygo to the store advertised and make a purchase.

Location based advertisement and promotion, along with the use of databoth obtained and derived there from is suggested in U.S. Pat. No.7,668,832 to Yeh, et al. for “Determining and/or Using LocationInformation in an Ad System”. The patent recites that the usefulness,and consequently the performance, of advertisements are improved byallowing businesses to better target their ads to a responsive audience.Location information is determined (or simply accepted) and used. Forexample, location information may be used in a relevancy determinationof an ad. As another example, location information may be used in anattribute (e.g., position) arbitration. Such location information may beassociated with price information, such as a maximum price bid. Suchlocation information may be associated with ad performance information.Ad performance information may be tracked on the basis of locationinformation. The content of an ad creative, and/or of a landing page maybe selected and/or modified using location information. Finally, tools,such as user interfaces, may be provided to allow a business to enterand/or modify location information, such as location information usedfor targeting and location-dependent price information. The locationinformation used to target and/or score ads may be, include, or definean area. The area may be defined by at least one geographic referencepoint (e.g., defined by latitude and longitude coordinates) and perhapsadditional information.

Similarly, wireless and mobile technology is being suggested to enhancethe customer experience and provide targeted advertising over wirelesscommunication networks. U.S. Pat. No. 7,580,699 to Shaw for “NetworkSystems and Methods Utilizing Mobile Devices to Enhance ConsumerExperience” discusses a method for providing and accessing membershipaccounts via a mobile device. The method includes sending a memberidentification request to a mobile device upon the mobile device beingdetected by a network. If a member identification is stored in a memoryof the mobile device, the mobile device generates and sends a memberidentification response including the member identification. Uponreceipt of the member identification, the member identification isauthenticated and the mobile device user is authorized to access amembership account associated with the member identification. If,however, no member identification is stored in the memory of the mobiledevice, the mobile device generates and sends a new memberidentification request requesting that a new member identification beissued for the requesting customer. Upon receipt of the new memberidentification request, a new member identification is generated andsent to the mobile device for storage in the mobile device memory. Themobile device user is then authorized to access a membership accountassociated with the new member identification.

U.S. Pat. No. 7,526,278 to Link for “System and Method for ProvidingShort Message Targeted Advertising over a Wireless CommunicationNetwork” suggests a method for transmitting a message over a wirelessnetwork to a wireless communications device. A plurality of messages arestored in a database, wherein each stored message is associated with oneor more locations. Location information of a wireless communicationsdevice is detected, and a message in the database associated with thedetected location is selected and transmitted to the wirelesscommunications device. Local advertisers register to advertise oncertain wireless communications devices that are in close proximity tothe advertiser. As a enters a cell site that is near the location of theadvertiser, the wireless network delivers a message to the wirelessdevice that is specified by the local advertiser. An acknowledgementsignal is then received by the network, and the local advertiser'saccount is charged for transmission of the advertisement.

However, privacy remains a concern, as many people do not like the ideaof being “tracked”. Therefore, there remains a need to respect asubscriber's privacy while still providing advertising that is botheasily viewed and location based. Many advertisers have coupons printedin newspapers to build brand awareness. Because it takes time topurchase a paper, find the coupon, cut the coupon, and transport thecoupon to a store to redeem it. While consumers can save money-usingcoupons, many do not think the effort is worth it. A need remains for abetter way to distribute and redeem coupons and to permit them to beused by others in the event that the particular individual to whom theyare first directed decides that the coupon or incentive would be betterused or more applicable to a member of his social network.

Many service providers already deliver free informational messages (i.e.advertising) to their customers at no charge. There is usually noimmediate benefit to the receiver of this free information, and so thereremains a need for the subscriber to get some benefit for having histerminal display it. Mobile service providers who present advertising onmobile terminals, generally present advertising to only one person at atime, the subscriber. This is true even if the subscriber is in acrowded public area or is part of a social network which, by definition,enjoys many similar attributes and would respond similarly to theadvertisement or promotion. Therefore there remains a need to presentadvertising to a larger audience and concomitantly obtain that largeraudience as part of the provider or advertiser database.

Internet selling has traditionally been done by online retailers sellingproducts directly to purchasing individuals or groups. Amazon.com.® isan example of an e-commerce website that specializes in selling avariety of products. U.S. Pat. No. 5,960,411 relates to a method andsystem for placing a purchase order via a communications network. Othere-commerce sites specialize in selling a particular type of product orservice, such as the Apple® store or Dell.com.® which both selldifferent varieties of computers and computer products. More recently,businesses have emerged that offer customers comparison shopping,enabling the customer to browse a variety of e-commerce sites for thebest price or customer service when they are looking to purchase.MySimon.com® is an example of this. Google's Froogle® service is anexample of a search engine that aggregates products from a variety ofe-commerce sites and offers them in a single view to the potentialcustomer.

These approaches are very different in their respective business models.In the first case, the online service provides the listing and handlesthe transaction. In the second case, the online service merely providesinformation, and may receive referral fees from the e-commerce site thatcompletes the transaction. However, both of these approaches aim toachieve the same goal: to provide a potential buyer with a purchasingpath that begins with the buyer's interest in a product or service.Along this purchasing path, the user may encounter product reviews oruser feedback, which is, at best, the opinion of a stranger and, atworst, the contrived words of a biased party.

Also, an increasingly popular feature on online communities is theability for a user to express his/herself using a variety of creativetools. For example, websites exist that allow users to create a virtualcharacter, complete with clothes, accessories, and furniture. Thesesites are known collectively as avatar sites. A preferred embodiment ofthis invention would treat a user's previously purchased products andservices and desired products and services as a means of selfexpression, and the web as just another place where we can express ourindividuality and conduct day-to-day social interaction.

One example of a known system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,175,831,which relates to a networking database containing a plurality of recordsfor different individuals in which individuals are connected to oneanother in the database by defined relationships. This system, however,does not enable the individuals to provide word of mouth sales referralsby including marketing brands as part of the individual's identity inthe database.

Another example of a known system is described in U.S. Pat. No.6,269,369 which relates to a network-computer-based personal contactmanager system that enables users of networked clients to maintain andupdate user information that is stored in a relational database. Thesystem allows each user to specify, on an individual basis, whichcontacts are permitted to access their user information. The system alsoallows users to find contacts based on common group affiliations andnotifies users when there are coincidences in their data.

Additional descriptions of the background of one aspect of the presentinvention may be found in the following books: “The Tipping Point: HowLittle Things Can Make a Difference” by Malcolm Gladwell, Back Bay Books(2002); and “Kellogg on Marketing” (Edited by Dawn Lacobucci), JohnWiley & Sons (2000). Another reference related to the use ofadvertisements online and related pricing issues is described, forexample, in connection with “GOOGLE®AdWords®.

However, each of the above systems, as well as traditional e-commercesuffer from the lack of relevant feedback from trusted sources.

U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005023471 seeks to amelioratesome of these shortcomings by describing a system of word of mouthselling that identifies brands with online identities and optionallytracks access and sales histories to provide rewards. It proposes anonline word of mouth e-commerce system to permit individuals or groupsto decide the products and services that they wish to be associated withas part of their identity within an online community. They select andapprove these products and services from their purchasing histories atvarious e-commerce retailers and can enrich this information with theproducts and services that they wish to purchase. Optionally, in returnfor adding their purchasing history to their profiles, individuals andgroups can receive rewards in the form of gift certificates when otherusers purchase the product or service that the individual or groupadvocated. Partner e-commerce retailers implement or expose a webservice API for a user importing his or her purchasing history and fordynamically extracting referral links. However, this system does notprovide advertisers with the immediate use of coupons or thedissemination of those coupons among social group members, nor does itprovide redemption which minimizes or eliminates the retailerinvolvement, while permitting the use of existing data and communicationstreams and device without the need to obtain new hardware.

Wireless networks are now routinely in communication with the globalcomputer network, providing network users with expanded services such asInternet access through their wireless handheld devices. Through thissame link, wireless network providers can provide third parties with theidentity and location information that the network provider is (or willbe) required to monitor thus permitting the third parties to identify anetwork user and track that user's every movement. This informationenables them to profile customers and to present more individualizedproducts or services. Advertisers, if permitted by the user, may targetusers and send information from the advertiser or third party based upona user's location. Targeting users with information from third parties,such as advertisers, is particularly useful when the user is active andthe information is being sent to a mobile communication device.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Exemplary systems are shown for providing coupons, rebates, rewards,discounts and advertising (all of which are hereinafter subsumed in andmay be have the alternative designations “advertisements” or “coupons”)to individuals who opt into the incentive process or are opted into itvia a pre-existing relationship with a group, bank, charitableinstitution or group, affinity group or other entity. Methods are alsoprovided for providing coupons and/or advertising to such individualsincluding persons within a social network. The systems and methodsemploy, among other things, an advertising/couponing engine or processorconfigured to provide a virtual ad or coupon which may be a function ofboth independent and dependent variables and constraints which mayinclude location, information about the individual and information ofany relationship between a social network, its members and theadvertiser. The processor may employ an adaptive process specificationwith allowed and disallowed actions and constraints to generate thecoupon or advertisement. As a further part of the systems and methodsemployed, the classified advertisement may contain a coupon or similarredemption feature which may be employed by the individual to gain thebenefit upon the taking of the prescribed action such as purchasing anitem or items or going to a particular location. The redemption andconcomitant benefit may be correlated and matched to permit theindividual to obtain the benefit without the need for having theredeeming advertiser or retailer actively participate in the redemptionprocess. Using such advertisements and coupons is generally referred toas “pushing”.

Exemplary systems are also shown for using various criteria as well aslocation information to transmit advertising and related information toa communication device so that a coupon or similar redemption feature ismade available to the individual. The individual may obtain the benefitupon the taking of the prescribed action. The benefit may be directlyapplied to the individual's account or such other place as theindividual designates such as a prepaid debit card, gift card, loyaltycard of another payment card, or may be shared with another individual,or transferred, in whole or in part, to another entity, such as anot-for-profit organization which the customer is supportive of, withoutthe need for the redeeming advertiser, customer or retailer toparticipate actively in the redemption process. A further aspect of theinvention permits the retailer/advertiser to change the coupon andpromotion “on-the-fly”, thus permitting it to be modified inrelationship to the desired anticipated response. A further aspect ofthe invention permits the retailer/advertiser to conduct site specificand product specific promotions based upon SKU and other identifierinformation. Thus, a retailer can provide a $10 coupon at locations inChicago and $15 in New York for the same merchandise or on the samecampaign. Alternatively, the retailer can determine that its inventoryof a certain product in one location is too high and can do a promotionbased upon SKU data and inventory information to dynamically control itscoupon and advertising campaigns.

Further exemplary systems and methods are shown in which a communicationmodule receives classified advertisement from an advertising entityeither as a result of location, predetermined information about theadvertised product or service and the potential purchaser's desiretherefore, or variables which indicate that the individual is desirousof or may be influenced by the receipt of such a classifiedadvertisement which includes a coupon or similar redemption feature.Upon the use of the coupon or similar redemption feature a data entry ismade in the database to confirm the use of the coupon. The dataconfirmation is matched to a payment or debit authorization approvalconfirmation entity database which had previously authorized the use ofthe coupon in conjunction with a credit, debit, pre-paid, cash-fill orsimilar card. Upon the matching of the authorization confirmation andredemption data entry, the authorizing entity issues to the individualthe value of the coupon or redemption through a credit or negative debit(as appropriate) or through the creation of a gift card or loyalty card.Further, the individual may transfer, assign or otherwise request tosplit all or part of the incentive redemption amount to an entity otherthan themselves such as a charity or other organization or person(s).

In a further aspect of the invention, the coupon or redemption may beemployed in online communities and social networking environments bypermitting the initial recipient to transfer or otherwise pass on thecoupon or redemption to others within the community and socialnetworking environment. In such instances the advertiser will obtain thebenefit of having a social association connected with the advertisementthereby giving it a higher degree of credibility to the subsequentrecipient. It will also make the initial recipient an advocate for thecoupon and advertisement, thereby enhancing the value of theadvertisement to the particular advertiser.

As yet another part and feature of the invention, in instances where acoupon is transferred within a social networking environment orcommunity and the subsequent recipient of that coupon redeems it inaccordance with its terms, the initial recipient may be provided with abenefit, including a monetary benefit of a percentage of the value ofthe coupon. This provides an additional incentive to the initialrecipient to transfer the coupon to a member within the social networkor community who may employ it or who has a greater interest in theunderlying redemption benefit. Similarly this provides an additionalbenefit to the advertiser in that the ultimate recipient was not onethat would have been originally targeted by the advertiser. In the eventthat the subsequent recipient employs the coupon the advertiser willhave increased its database and applicable information in terms ofproviding targeted advertisements.

In yet another embodiment of the invention, a system and framework isprovided for permitting downstream advertising in a social network orcommunity where the members can associate the advertisement within anindividual or group to increase the brand penetration within that groupwhere, presumably, the members have a higher probability of commoninterests and common consuming desires. The employment of the coupon andits redemption will further permit the authorizing entity and advertiserto gain an additional member within their sponsored advertisingframework by requesting that any downstream recipients of theadvertisement who employs the coupon become a member of the advertisingframework.

In one embodiment of the invention advertisers may register through acentral entity to advertise on wireless communication devices that areeither in close proximity to the advertiser or which may fall withinother criteria denominated by the advertiser. The recipient is one whohas elected to participate, via an authorizing entity or similarclearing mechanism, to receive such advertisements or coupons either inconjunction with location, criteria denominated by the advertiser or aspart of a social or networking community based on the number of peoplethe individual is connected, sharing or associated with. In addition,the usage of the activity within a social network for an individual orgroup could also be used to determine the proper advertising matching tothat individual. Further, the existing location where an individual isshopping and/or has recently shopped will also be used for advertisingdelivery and targeting. As the recipient either enters the location oris otherwise determined to satisfy the criteria, a message including acoupon or a redeemable notification is delivered to the wireless device.The recipient may either engage in the activity resulting in aredemption or may take other action such as forwarding it to a member ofthe social networking community. Upon redemption or upon taking of theaction which is required, a data entry evidencing the transaction isrecorded. That data entry is then compared to the data log, and uponverification that the activity is in accordance with the redemptioncriteria and that the coupon is valid, the recipient is notified thatthe redemption has taken place and an appropriate credit has been givento the recipient. The recipient is generally notified via a messagewhich is delivered to the recipient through their mobile device or otherpersonal computer/communication device either while the recipient is atthe checkout location or subsequent to the recipient being present atthe checkout location.

As a further exemplary system and method to deliver coupons, offers,incentives and other redemption features to a mobile wirelesscommunication device the coupon, offer, incentive or other redemptionfeature is attached or added to or may become a part of the method ofpayment, for example the use of the charge, debit, pre-paid, cash-fillor general-purpose card, for the purpose of permitting automaticredemption when the card is utilized in accordance with the terms of thecoupon offer or incentive. It is a further part of the exemplary systemand method to have the sales data from the redemptive environment andthe authorization information from the card correlated and compared topermit the automatic crediting of the coupon amount, offer or incentiveimmediately after purchase.

In yet another aspect of the invention an offer/redemption databasecomparison system matches the redemption of the coupon, offer, incentiveor other redemption initiative to the authorization database, which, byway of an example, may be a bank which issues a charge card or amerchant acquirer or other repository of authorization data, to matchthe users charge activity and the offer and location of the offertarget. Upon determination that the offer target and the authorizationmatch, a credit equal to the redemption amount is given to the user inthe form of a credit to the charge card (or a negative debit in the caseof a debit card) or through other means such as a new debit card, orpayment (in whole or in part) to a third party such as a not-for-profitorganization which the customer is supportive of.

In yet another aspect of the invention an offer/redemption databasecomparison system matches the redemption of the coupon, offer, incentiveor other redemption initiative to the authorization database, which, byway of an example, may be a bank which issues a charge card or amerchant acquirer or other repository of authorization data, to matchthe users charge activity and the offer and location of the offertarget. Upon determination that the offer target and the authorizationmatch, a credit equal to the redemption amount is given to the user inthe form of a credit to the charge card (or a negative debit in the caseof a debit card) or in the form of virtual currency or a combination ofboth. Virtual currency is generally used to permit an individual tocreate a credit system on a social network. Thus, for example, arecipient may elect to create a “pay with Facebook®” wallet into whichsome of the reward/coupon benefit may go. This can subsequently be usedto permit the recipient to finance virtual purchases. This Facebook®wallet can then be shared with others if the recipient so chooses.

As yet a further part of the invention, the redemption amount which isgiven to the user in the form of a credit to the charge card (or anegative debit in the case of a debit card) or in the form of virtualcurrency or a combination of both may also permit the user to obtainadditional virtual (or actual) credits by undertaking additionalactivity, such as referring another person within their social networkor completing surveys or other actions to assist the merchant orprovider of the coupon/incentive.

In a further aspect of the invention when employed in conjunction with asocial networking community, the recipient may elect not to redeem thecoupon, offer or incentive and to pass it along to another member of thesocial network community. If the other member of the social networkcommunity then redeems the coupon, offer or incentive and is not aperson to whom the bank has issued a charge card such that a match maytake place, the other member may, ideally, be given the opportunity toreceive such a charge card and to thereby participate in the incentive,thereby providing the bank or other issuing entity with an additionalclient.

It is a still further aspect of the invention that the system will alsotransmit via a social network(s) the activity performed by the initialrecipient or the subsequent recipient of the offer through the socialnetwork the activities performed such as “John Smith just saved $35 atBest Buy using his Visa card”, which transmitted message will be adirect result of the redemption activity acknowledgement from theauthorizing system.

In a further exemplary system and method of the invention, a recipientwho elects not to redeem the coupon and passes it along to anothermember of a social networking community is still permitted toparticipate in a modified form of the incentive. Upon passing the couponto the other member of the social networking community the initialrecipient may either notify the issuer directly, or the fact of thetransmittal will be noted upon redemption by the second person of thecoupon. In such circumstances the initial recipient may receive a creditor similar benefit directly to their credit card or other prescribedmethod of payment for having passed a coupon which has subsequently beenredeemed. By way of example, a coupon which provides for a $10 creditupon the purchase of $100 worth of merchandise at a specified retailer,if redeemed by the second member of the social networking community,would simultaneously provide a one dollar credit to the initialrecipient, thus permitting them to benefit directly from their action.

As an additional part of an aspect of the invention each coupon may begiven certain coding or an applet which will permit communication with acentral server in order to permit both the redemption of the coupon andits subsequent verification and matching at the issuer server. Once theissuer of the card or controller of the method of payment or theauthorizing entity matches their customer or non customer and the chargeactivity utilizing the method of payment to match the offer, the data issent to a database and classified as Matched Offers. The Matched Offersare then compared to data received from the target location of thecoupon to verify and corroborate all incentive or other redemptiveactions which sets forth the details of the sales transaction activity.Information received from the target location could be the specificitems purchased and/or the specific amount of inventory available for agiven item purchased and/or the previous sales data for a particularproduct, category of products or a particular unique individual viatheir unique identifier. The details of the sales and transactionactivity are then matched with a Matched Offer to identify an incentive,coupon, offer or other redemptive act which was in fact acted on by theconsumer, be it the initial recipient or a subsequent receiver of thecoupon. If the subsequent receiver is not within a certain social and orcommunity network, the ability to “join” such network in real timeexists through the use of voice phone response and/or electronic sign upprocess. Similarly, if the subsequent receiver is a “qualified”Incentive/Reward Customer, as was the initial recipient, then thesubsequent receiver can be invited to become such an Incentive/RewardCustomer, thereby giving the issuer an additional customer for futureadvertisements and coupons. Upon a determination that the offer, coupon,incentive or other redemptive act was undertaken the issuer of the cardor controller of the method of payment notifies the person who hasundertaken the redemption that an appropriate credit has been entered ontheir card.

In a further aspect of the invention, initiation of the couponredemption process may be undertaken either by transmittal from anadvertiser to a mobile device or by the obtaining by the mobile deviceuser of a coupon or offer which he has seen or is otherwise aware of. Byway of example a mobile device or camera may take a picture of a couponand then transmit that coupon or forward it to a user account to besubsequently used in the retail location identified in the coupon oroffer (or even forward it to a member of a social network for theiruse). The redemption aspects of the invention than permit the coupon tobe transmitted to a subsequent recipient within a social networkcommunity or to be used by the initial individual. In either event uponredemption of the coupon or offer the issuer of the card or controllerof the method of payment matches their customer and the charge activityutilizing the method of payment to match the offer, the data is sent toa database and classified as Matched Offers. The Matched Offers are thencompared to data received from the target location of the coupon todetermine that all of the incentive or other redemptive acts which setforth the details of the sales transaction activity have beenundertaken. The details of the sales transaction activity are thenmatched with a Matched Offer to identify an incentive, coupon, offer orother redemptive act which was in fact acted on by the consumer, be itthe initial recipient or a subsequent receiver of the coupon. Upon adetermination that the offer, coupon, incentive or other redemptive actwas undertaken the issuer of the card or controller of the method ofpayment notifies the person who has undertaken the redemption that anappropriate credit has been entered and, in the event that the personwho was undertaken the redemption is a subsequent recipient, the initialrecipient may similarly receive up a credit for having participated inthe transaction and forwarded the coupon.

Other systems, methods, computer programs and communication structuresaccording to embodiments will be or may become apparent to one withskill in the art upon review of the following drawings and detaileddescriptions. It is intended that all such additional systems, methods,computer programs and communication structures be included within thisdescription and within the scope of the present disclosure and beprotected by it. The term electronic equipment includes all portablecommunication equipment. The term portable communication equipmentincludes all equipment such as mobile telephones, pagers, communicators,electronic organizers, personal digital assistants, smart phones,portable communication apparatus, global positioning system terminals orthe like. In the present application, the invention is presentlydescribed in the context of a mobile telephone. However it will beappreciated that the invention is not intended to be limited to a mobiletelephone and can be used in many types of electronic equipment whichare accessible either wirelessly or through hard-wire connections.Similarly audiovisual content may be received by the electronicequipment in any one of a number of matters, such as by podcasts andfixed media coupons. Accordingly, media content in the identification ofrelevant media content may relate to any mobile media format includingbut not limited to mobile television mobile radio Internet radio and/oraudiovisual channels podcast video clips audio clips audio booksanimations ring tones commercials advertisements coupons and so forth.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an initiation process illustrativelydepicting one embodiment of an aspect of the invention.

FIG. 1A is a block diagram of an exemplary sign up processillustratively depicting one embodiment of an aspect of the invention.

FIG. 1A is a block diagram of a activation process illustrativelydepicting one embodiment of an aspect of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an exemplary offer initiation processillustratively depicting a representative embodiment of certain aspectsof the invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an exemplary authorization processillustratively depicting a representative embodiment of certain aspectsof the invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an exemplary redemption and settlementprocess illustratively depicting a representative embodiment of certainaspects of the invention.

FIG. 5 is an exemplary flow diagram of a representative process flowillustratively depicting a representative embodiment of an aspect of theinvention.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a representation of certain viral aspectsof a representative embodiment of an illustrative aspect of theinvention and the incentive process.

FIG. 7 is a high level relationship diagram exemplifying certain of theparties and entities which illustratively may or can interact within thesystem.

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram of an exemplary system for performing theincentive and redemption operation consistent with one illustrativeembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram of an exemplary system for performing thevarious operations in a manner consistent with one illustrative aspectof the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of an exemplary system for performing thevarious operations in a manner consistent with one illustrative aspectof the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram of an exemplary system for performingillustrative ad selection, modification, scoring, response and adaptiveoperations consistent with the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram of an exemplary system which may perform someof the activities and operations in an illustrative manner consistentwith an aspect of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram of an exemplary system for performingillustrative response directives within a social network environment andadaptive operations consistent with the present invention.

FIG. 14 is a block diagram of an exemplary system for transmitting anddelivering to a mobile communication device within a social networkenvironment illustrative redemption information in real time to thenetwork environment and beyond and illustrative adaptive operationsconsistent with the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a block diagram of an exemplary system for obtainingillustrative response data within a social network environment andillustrative adaptive operations consistent with the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Certain terminology may be used in the following description forconvenience only and is not limiting. The words “lower” and “upper” and“top” and “bottom” designate directions only and are used in conjunctionwith such drawings as may be included to fully describe the invention.The terminology includes the above words specifically mentioned,derivatives thereof and words of similar import.

Where a term is provided in the singular, the inventors also contemplateaspects of the invention described by the plural of that term. As usedin this specification and in any claims, the singular forms “a”, “an”,and “the” include plural references unless the context clearly dictatesotherwise, e.g. “a derivative work”. Thus, for example, a reference to“a method” includes one or more methods, and/or steps of the typedescribed therein and/or which will become apparent to those personsskilled in the art upon reading this disclosure.

Unless defined otherwise, all technical, legal, copyright related andscientific terms used herein have the same meaning or meanings ascommonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which thisinvention belongs. Although any methods and materials similar orequivalent to those described herein can be used in the practice ortesting of the present invention, the preferred methods, constructs andmaterials are described herein. All publications mentioned herein,whether in the text or by way of numerical designation, are incorporatedherein by reference in their entirety. Where there are discrepancies interms and definitions used by reference, the terms used in thisapplication shall have the definitions given herein.

The term “variation” of an invention includes any embodiment of theinvention, unless expressly specified otherwise.

A reference to “another embodiment” in describing an embodiment does notnecessarily imply that the referenced embodiment is mutually exclusivewith another embodiment (e.g., an embodiment described before thereferenced embodiment), unless expressly specified otherwise.

The terms “include”, “includes”, “including”, “comprising” andvariations thereof mean “including but not limited to”, unless expresslyspecified otherwise.

The term “consisting of” and variations thereof includes “including andlimited to”, unless expressly specified otherwise.

The terms “a”, “an” and “the” mean “one or more”, unless expresslyspecified otherwise. The term “plurality” means “two or more”, unlessexpressly specified otherwise.

The term “herein” means “in this patent application, including anythingwhich may be incorporated by reference”, unless expressly specifiedotherwise.

The phrase “at least one of”, when such phrase modifies a plurality ofthings (such as an enumerated list of things) means any combination ofone or more of those things, unless expressly specified otherwise. Forexample, the phrase “at least one of a widget, a car and a wheel” meanseither (i) a widget, (ii) a car, (iii) a wheel, (iv) a widget and a car,(v) a widget and a wheel, (vi) a car and a wheel, or (vii) a widget, acar and a wheel.

The phrase “based on” does not mean “based only on”, unless expresslyspecified otherwise. In other words, the phrase “based on” describesboth “based only on” and “based at least on”.

The term “represent” and like terms are not exclusive, unless expresslyspecified otherwise. For example, the term “represents” does not mean“represents only”, unless expressly specified otherwise. In other words,the phrase “the data represents a credit card number” describes both“the data represents only a credit card number” and “the data representsa credit card number and the data also represents something else”.

The term “whereby” is used herein only to precede a clause or other setof words that express only the intended result, objective or consequenceof something that is previously and explicitly recited. Thus, when theterm “whereby” is used in a claim, the clause or other words that theterm “whereby” modifies do not establish specific further limitations ofthe claim or otherwise restricts the meaning or scope of the claim.

The terms “such as”, and/or “e.g.” and like terms means “for example”,and thus does not limit the term or phrase it explains. For example, inthe sentence “the computer sends data (e.g., instructions, a datastructure) over the Internet”, the term “e.g.” explains that“instructions” are an example of “data” that the computer may send overthe Internet, and also explains that “a data structure” is an example of“data” that the computer may send over the Internet. However, both“instructions” and “a data structure” are merely examples of “data”, andother things besides “instructions” and “a data structure” can be“data”.

The term “determining” and grammatical variants thereof (e.g., todetermine a price, determining a value, determine an object which meetsa certain criterion) is used in an extremely broad sense. The term“determining” encompasses a wide variety of actions and therefore“determining” can include calculating, computing, processing, deriving,investigating, looking up (e.g., looking up in a table, a database oranother data structure), ascertaining and the like. Also, “determining”can include receiving (e.g., receiving information), accessing (e.g.,accessing data in a memory) and the like. Also, “determining” caninclude resolving, selecting, choosing, establishing, and the like. Itdoes not imply certainty or absolute precision, and does not imply thatmathematical processing, numerical methods or an algorithm process beused. Therefore “determining” can include estimating, predicting,guessing and the like.

It will be readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that thevarious processes described herein may be implemented by, e.g.,appropriately programmed general purpose computers and computingdevices. Typically a processor (e.g., one or more microprocessors, oneor more microcontrollers, one or more digital signal processors) willreceive instructions (e.g., from a memory or like device), and executethose instructions, thereby performing one or more processes defined bythose instructions. For clarity of explanation, the illustrative systemembodiment is presented as comprising individual functional blocks(including functional blocks labeled as a “processor”). The functionsthese blocks represent may be provided through the use of either sharedor dedicated hardware, including, but not limited to, hardware capableof executing software. For example the functions of one or moreprocessors presented in FIG. 10 may be provided by a single sharedprocessor or multiple processors. Use of the term “processor” should notbe construed to refer exclusively to hardware capable of executingsoftware. Illustrative embodiments may comprise microprocessor and/ordigital signal processor (DSP) hardware, read-only memory (ROM) forstoring software performing the operations discussed below, and randomaccess memory (RAM) for storing results. Very large scale integration(VLSI) hardware embodiments, as well as custom VLSI circuitry incombination with a general purpose DSP circuit, may also be provided.

A “processor” includes one or more microprocessors, central processingunits (CPUs), computing devices, microcontrollers, digital signalprocessors, or like devices or any combination thereof. Thus adescription of a process is likewise a description of an apparatus forperforming the process. The apparatus can include, e.g., a processor andthose input devices and output devices that are appropriate to performthe method. Further, programs that implement such methods (as well asother types of data) may be stored and transmitted using a variety ofmedia (e.g., computer readable media) in a number of manners. In someembodiments, hard-wired circuitry or custom hardware may be used inplace of, or in combination with, some or all of the softwareinstructions that can implement the processes of various embodiments.Thus, various combinations of hardware and software may be used insteadof software only.

The term “computer-readable medium” includes any medium thatparticipates in providing data (e.g., instructions, data structures)which may be read by a computer, a processor or a like device. Such amedium may take many forms, including but not limited to, non-volatilemedia, volatile media, and transmission media. Non-volatile mediainclude, for example, optical or magnetic disks and other persistentmemory. Volatile media include dynamic random access memory (DRAM),which typically constitutes the main memory. Transmission media includecoaxial cables, copper wire and fiber optics, including the wires thatcomprise a system bus coupled to the processor. Transmission media mayinclude or convey acoustic waves, light waves and electromagneticemissions, such as those generated during radio frequency (RF) andinfrared (IR) data communications. Common forms of computer-readablemedia include, for example, a floppy disk, a flexible disk, hard disk,magnetic tape, any other magnetic medium, a CD-ROM, DVD, any otheroptical medium, punch cards, paper tape, any other physical medium withpatterns of holes, a RAM, a PROM, an EPROM, a FLASH-EEPROM, any othermemory chip or cartridge, a carrier wave as described hereinafter, orany other medium from which a computer can read.

Among the various components and entities which may be a part of theelectronic coupon generation, redemption and processing system which iscommunicating with a financial communications network the followingentities may be advantageously employed:

-   A. Consumer Aggregator: a consumer aggregator may be an organization    which may be on the issuing side of the financial communications    network and payment environment and which may have registered    consumers, reward members or other individuals to whom it may send    advertisements and coupons.-   B. Reward Member: a reward member may be a consumer who may be the    end or one who is otherwise associated with a consumer who may be    registered with the consumer aggregator. The reward member may    expect to receive a credit, reward, or other benefit for undertaking    the activity which is being pushed to them including the making of a    purchase using various payment cards which the reward member may    have registered with the consumer aggregator. A reward member may    have registered one or more cards, including credit card, reward    cards or other forms of identification indicia that are part of a    financial network, with the consumer aggregator. The terms “reward    member”, “customer”, “cardholder” and/or “consumer” may be used    interchangeably, along with other variants which indicate a similar    position within the incentive structure and system. A card may be,    but does not necessarily have to be a Visa®/Master Card®/American    Express® card or other form of financial identifier, including    PayPals® etc. and others and may be co-branded with the consumer    aggregator as well as with an issuing bank or entity, which is one    that is capable of participating within the electronic fund transfer    system of the financial network.-   C. Acquiring Processor: an acquiring processor may be an entity that    may accept payments on transactions from merchants and other    participating entities and may be involved in and otherwise    accommodate and handle some or all of the management of the    financial transaction, and particularly the payment aspects thereof,    including the electronic transfer of funds associated with the    transactions. This may include but is not necessarily limited to the    payment of funds or electronic or other transfer of funds to the    merchants, the providing of a coupon or reward benefit to the reward    member and the providing of such incentive payments to the mobile    coupon processor and such other entities is maybe involved in the    financial network associated with the transaction and process.-   D. Mobile Coupon Processor: a mobile coupon processor (which may    also be referred to as a coupon or incentive processing entity along    with other variants which indicate a similar position and activity    within the incentive structure and system) may be an entity which    may provide some or all of the coupon transaction functions and made    manage or otherwise provide some or all of the aspects of    registering, selling, marketing, supporting and processing of the    data for the reward members and coupons. The mobile coupon processor    may also deliver and further process the coupons including    dissemination of those coupons within a social network and obtaining    of information from that dissemination in order to target reward    members and others with coupons and rewards. A mobile coupon    processor may also be a part of an entity which may or may not be a    part of the financial network associated with transaction    processing.

As a preliminary in the initiation of an incentive reward system whichmay be implemented, and as an example only of one aspect of the system,a credit card or similar financial network entity which may serve toverify and authenticate a charge, may send to its current and/orpotential new card user's information concerning the incentive rewardsystem (“Customer Sign-Up”). This may also be sent by a consumeraggregator or other entity which has direct or indirect communicationand contact (via SMS or other known or future communication vehicles)with an Incentive/Reward Customer 1. For purposes of description only,the entity or entities may also be cumulatively referred to as the“Incentive System Initiator” 1000. The information may includeparticulars as to the Incentive/Reward Customer's cash back, real-timerewards, what the Incentive/Reward Customer 1 wants done with the reward(donation, delivery to a credit/debit card, receipt of a reward card,etc.) and social network information (Twitter®, LinkedIn® and Facebook®,by way of example). This may be afforded in a retail environment withoutspecific reference to or possible modification of the point-of-sale orinfrastructure of that retail environment. The Incentive/Reward Member 1may be requested to opt in to the system so that they may be contacted.Once that occurs either a new card may be sent to a new card user or acurrent card user's account may be flagged so as to indicate that theyare both part of the incentive reward program. The information relatingto the new card user or current card user may be forwarded to the couponprocessing entity 10 which may have responsibility for the incentivereward system. The coupon processing entity 10 may be part of orseparate from other entities within the financial network.

Referring to FIG. 1, FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B there are illustrated, by blockdiagrams, an exemplary machine system architecture 100 for initiating anincentive reward consistent and in accordance with one aspect of thepresent invention. The system architecture 100 may include a processor110, a storage device 115, and a communications module 120, whichpermits the processor 110 to communicate with Incentive/Reward Members 1or potential Incentive/Reward Members 1 who seek to opt into theincentive reward system. The machine architecture 100 may also includeinput devices 125 and output devices 130 as well as a network and/orsystem bus 135 to facilitate communication between and among the variouselements of the system architecture 100 and other elements associatedtherewith.

Upon receipt of a confirmation from the Incentive System Initiator 1000,or similar entity, that a user has opted into the incentive rewardsystem 100, the coupon processing entity may contact the reward customer1 via a text message or other form of communication and may request thatthey activate their account in order to be eligible for an incentivereward. By way of example, the reward customer 1 may be contacted via acomputing device communicating over an electronic network (not shown) ormay be contacted via a mobile communication device. The reward customer1 is invited to activate the sign-up process as is shown in an exemplaryfashion in FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B.

Referring to FIG. 1A, there is shown an exemplary sign up process 122 inwhich a first step 124 may request of the reward customer 1 a user name,password and security information in order to permit the setting up ofan appropriate account 126. Upon completion of the first step 124, andthe creation of the account 126, the reward customer 1 may be requestedto provide information as the social networks 127 which they participatein and whether they wish to have their purchasing and reward activitiesrelayed or posted to those networks or to particular groups orindividuals within those social networks. The incentive/reward member 1may also be asked as to the types of retail venues 128 which the rewardcustomer 1 desires, the types of products 131 that most interest thereward customer 1 and other information such as how often the rewardcustomer 1 wishes to receive offers 132 and in what proximity to aparticular store the reward customer 1 wishes to be prior to receivingthe offers 134. The above information requests are merely exemplary inorder to permit the reward customer 1 to obtain relevant and targetedincentives which will thus enhance the experience for him. The rewardcustomer 1 may also be asked to detail the particular type ofcommunication system 136 upon which they wish to receive theinformation, including smart phones, regular phones and related mobiledevices such as global positioning systems (“GPS”) which may be employedin conjunction with car navigation systems, or on stationary devices orother network related devices now available or which may becomeavailable in the future.

FIG. 2 illustrates one preferred embodiment of an exemplary initiationof the incentive process and system architecture 100 by receipt of anoffer to a reward customer 1. The reward customer 1 may allow theirmobile communication device 140 having a display module 142, to bevisible in relation to store locations or other indicia which the rewardcustomer 1 has provided or which the coupon processing entity 10believes may be applicable to the reward customer 1. When the rewardcustomer 1 is within the predetermined proximity of the store offeringan incentive which comports with the desired offering incentivecriteria, an ad/coupon server 150 activates an offer 152, which is sentto the reward customer's 1 desired mobile device. By way of example theoffer may provide: “Come to the Borders store on Main Street, spend $100using your Chase card ending in 1234 and get $10 back rewards creditedto your credit card statement.” In such an exemplary instance theverification issuer would have been Chase. The offer 152 is shown on thedisplay module 142.

The offer 152 which is shown on the display module 142 may be any one ofa number of varieties. For example, the ad/coupon server 150 may producean electronic coupon or incentive which contains information includingdata which indicates the electronic coupon serial number, identificationnumber, data representative of validation or authentication keys whichmay be employed with the coupon, data representative of the vendor thatauthorized the coupon and that will redeem the coupon, datarepresentative of the entity that issued the coupon and datarepresentative of the particulars of the coupon itself. Alternatively,the ad/coupon server 150 may produce an electronic coupon which containsselected information solely related to the offer. The electronic coupondoes not need to carry identification information in as much as it isuniquely transmitted to the reward customer 1 who will have otheridentifying information associated with the their credit card (or otheridentifier) which will permit or assist in independent verificationand/or redemption

Alternatively, an reward customer 1 can specifically request that thead/coupon server 150 search for and produce an electronic coupon 152which relates to a store or similar retail establishment which thereward customer 1 is currently in or anticipates going to. In such aninstance, the processor 110 accepts the request from the reward customer1, the ad/coupon server 150 searches its database in storage device 180for a retailer or store which fits the criteria and transmits a relevantelectronic coupon 152 to the reward customer 1.

Referring to FIG.3 through FIG. 10, there is generally shown a series ofillustrative high-level flow diagrams, with illustrative systemimplementation, by which a reward customer 1 may receive an offer 152and effectuate the offer process via the system architecture 100. Anexample of this flow involves a reward customer 1 who has received anincentive offer 152 to shop at a particular retail establishment 200 orto undertake some other redemptive activity. The reward customer 1 goesto the particular retail establishment 200 or other entity in which theactivity is to be undertaken, undertakes to purchase the required amount(or accomplish the redemptive action) pursuant to the incentive offer152 and presents a card 210 to the retail establishment 200. The retailestablishment 200 swipes or otherwise seeks authorization to permit theuse of the card 210. An authorization data request 212A may generally betransmitted via data bus 213 in this exemplary fashion through to anacquiring entity 214, which then may send a data request 212B to anapproving party 215. The approving party 215 may then send a datarequest 212C to a card issuing entity 216 to request, illustratively,information as to whether the payment method supports thecharge/debit/payment request. The approving entity 215, typicallyVisa®/MasterCard®/American Express®/PayPals®, etc. may process theauthorization request 212B and forward it to the card issuing entity216. The card issuing entity 216 may enter and process the credit dataand transaction against the reward customer 1 credit/debit/reward fileand, upon approval, may forward a response 216 A to the approving entitydata query 212C to permit the retail establishment 200 to complete thetransaction. The card issuing entity 216 and/or the approving entity 215may be a third party unrelated to either Visa®! MasterCard®, etc., suchas a private network such as PayPal® (www.paypal.com), or may be asovereign entity, national bank, etc.

The acquiring entity 214 may also process and transmit a data query 218to the ad/coupon server 150 or to a related database, server orprocessor, which may contain data concerning ads and/or coupons. Thedata query 218 may be processed and matched to the advertisements andoffers in the ad/coupon server 150. In the event that there is a match,a data confirmation 220 may be sent to a processor 300, which mayoperate in conjunction with a storage device 310, all of which,illustratively, may be maintained by the incentive processing entity 10,or may be maintained by another entity within or without the financialnetwork. The data confirmation 220 may contain those offers which arematched to redemptions (matched offers 230). The matched offers 230 maybe stored in a storage device 235 for further processing, retentionand/or transmission.

The retail establishment 200 which has made the particular sale which isthe subject of the redemption may, either simultaneously witheffectuating the authorization or at a subsequent time, preferably onthe same day, transmit a sales log 250 containing redemption information252 to the incentive processing entity 10. The redemption information252 may then be processed and matched against the matched offers 230. Inthe event that there is a determination by a processor 254 that theredemption information 252 and the matched offers 230 coincide, anotification may be sent to acquiring entity 214 and the card issuingentity 216 to, illustratively, include a redemption amount 256 as acredit on the reward member's 1 credit/debit/reward card 210. Theincentive processing entity 10 may also notify members of the rewardmember's 1 social network of the activities that the reward member isperforming and the benefits received. The incentive processing entity 10may also, by way of illustration, distribute the incentive to thirdparties or to a virtual wallet for the reward member 1, pursuant to thereward member's desires and instructions.

It will be appreciated that in the above described exemplary embodiment,the authorization and redemption as well as the providing of the actualincentive to the reward member 1 may employ available data, processorsand/or storage and may not require the addition of point-of-sale devicesother than those which are currently employed by retailers. It will befurther appreciated that, by the use of the exemplary embodiment andrelated embodiments which will be evident to those skilled in the art,the retail establishment may no longer be actively involved in theactual processing or redemption or otherwise issuing of credits, whichmay be undertaken, in whole or in part, via system 100 through theincentive processing entity 10 or in conjunction with other partieswithin the financial network, thereby removing the retailer from theactual redemption benefit process. It can also be appreciated that theacquiring entity 214 and the card issuing entity 216 may be related ormay be the same entity. Similarly, various processes, actions andsystems may be deployed and operated by various members within orwithout the financial network, all of which is within the scope anddisclosure of this invention.

The embodiments discussed above are merely illustrative and to theextent that the embodiments are described in conjunction with or byreference to illustrations, various modifications and adaptations ofthose methods and specific structures may become evident and apparent tothose skilled in the art. By way of example various components andfunctions may be comprised of instructions that form part of or arestored in mobile communication devices or on computer readable storagemedia. Instructions may comprise software, firmware and program code andmay be retrieved and executed by a processor. Similarly, the exemplaryembodiments are not limited to the methodology by which a reward member1 receives the particular incentive. It may either be as a result of aspecific request by the reward member 1, a general request to benotified of such incentives, or general criteria by which the rewardmember 1 has indicated a willingness to accept coupons or similarincentives.

FIG. 4 shows a further aspect of the invention in which the card issuingentity 216 within the financial network confirms the charge afterauthorization. Confirmation of the charge and the concomitantauthorization is forwarded to the incentive processing entity 10.Processor 254 may process the information against the coupon informationin one or more storage devices 150. In the event that the charge and thecoupon information are matched the incentive processing entity 10 mayfund the coupon or reward amount via a financial credit 256 through thecard issuing entity 216. The financial credit 256 may be forwardedthrough the authorization stream generated by the sale or otherfinancial activity undertaken by the reward member 1. The incentiveprocessing entity 10 may obtain payment 260 from the retailer 200 orsuch other party as has sponsored the coupon/incentive and may providesubstantially immediate notification to the reward member 1, preferablywhile he is still at the checkout. The notification 258 may be providedto the reward member 1's 1 mobile device and may simultaneously be sentto other user designated device(s) to permit storage or processing. Itcan also be seen from FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 that the reward member 1 mayalso opt to obtain a direct credit and, if the entity sponsoring thecoupon so chooses, obtain a reward card or similar indicia of the rewardwhich may be redeemed at a later date.

As can best be seen in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, taken in conjunction with FIG.7, a reward member 1 can initiate and gain access to the couponprocessing system in a variety of ways. The reward member 1 can contacthis bank or other issuing entity and request that they become a part ofthe coupon processing system 100. Alternatively a reward member 1 canaccess the system 100 through a global communication network, alocalized communication network or, ideally, via the Internet. Thereward member 1 may indicate preferences as to the type of coupons andother benefits which they wish to receive and those preferences may bestored and may become a part of both the reward member 1 profile and aredemption database for establishing and adapting the processspecifications by which incentives and rewards are transmitted to rewardmembers in general and to the particular reward member 1. A rewardmember 1 can either request currently available coupons or can requestthat they be notified of such coupons when and as they become available.Once the coupon processing entity 10 determines that a reward member 1preference exists it can send either directly or through a third-partythe incentive in accordance with the reward member 1 preference. Thepresentation of the incentive may be done in any one of a number ofways. For example simple text may be employed to advise the rewardmember 1 that a particular incentive is available through a particularmerchant and indicate the closest location of that merchant to thereward member 1. Alternatively a reward member 1 can pull advertisementswith associated coupons that match the incentive system and then opt toengage in the activity and obtain the benefit of the coupon. A rewardmember 1 could do this via a mobile or desktop device or any otherdevice through an associated network and/or the Internet. The processorand adaptive process specifications may also permit a dual-mode ofoperation where pushed data and pulled data are dynamically used togenerate coupons and offers.

Returning again to FIG. 5, once the reward member 1 makes the purchasewhich is associated with the incentive and the merchant 200 swipes thecard associated with the reward member 1 and the incentive, theinformation is forwarded to the acquiring entity 214. The reward member1 and the merchant 200 at the point-of-sale do not need to engage in anyother activity at that time to enable or otherwise process theincentive. As is seen illustratively in Step 6, the acquiring entity 214queries the database of coupons 150 (either directly or through theincentive processing entity 10) to determine whether the reward member 1was sent a coupon or reward which matches the coding and the othercriteria for redemption. It can be appreciated that the couponprocessing entity 10, although shown to the any separate entity from thecard issuing entity 216 could in fact be a part of that entity or a partof another entity within the financial network. The card issuing entity216 continues to process the transaction to permit the merchant 200 tocomplete the transaction. If the database query is matched, the rewardmember 1 may be sent a notification that they will receive acredit/award/reward or that the incentive will be apportioned ordelivered as direct by the reward member 1. As is evident from thetransaction there is little or no need to train point-of-sale personnelor to modify or change the point-of-sale system. The discount or benefitcan be sent directly to the reward member's 1 credit card or the rewardmember 1 can opt to have it delivered in alternate ways such asretaining part of it in a virtual wallet, obtaining a reward or benefitcard from the retailer or otherwise receiving the discount or benefit insome other flexible and reward member 1 determined fashion. The rewardmember 1 may also have activity displayed on a social network communityor site and may have such parts of the activity displayed to some or allof the members within that social network community. For example, thereward member 1 may have certain members know that the reward member isat a specific retailer 200, has purchased a particular item and hasreceived a reward. They can have sufficient information of the activityto permit other social network members to opt (pull) to obtain similarbenefits or can opt to have the incentive processing entity 10 deliver(push) similar benefits to other members (or both).

The embodiments discussed above are generally depicted in relationshipto the receipt by an individual of an incentive. However they are notlimited thereto. By way of further example FIG. 6 the reward member 1may obtain a particular incentive and elect to either use it himself orpropagate it through a social network 400. Such social networks 400 mayinclude schools 402, workplaces 404, or social environments 406 whichare created by members who have similar qualities, characteristics andwho otherwise choose to be associated with one another. By engaging aparticular social network 400, the reward member 1 may decide to forwarda particular incentive to another member 420 within that particularsocial network 400. When the other member of the particular socialnetwork 400 receives the incentive forwarded by the reward member 1,there will generally be a higher degree of confidence about theparticular incentive and the underlying product or service which ismeant to incentivize, in as much as it will have received the imprimaturof the original reward member 1.

When the other member 420 within that particular social network 400receives the particular incentive and decides to undertake theredemptive activity required by the incentive, the redemption flow willcontinue up to the point at which the issuing party 216 queries thedatabase to determine whether this is a matched offer 230. In the eventthat the other member 420 is not a reward member, the issuing bank canforwarded to the other member 420 a congratulatory announcementpermitting them to join the reward member 1 group. Immediately uponacceptance, the offer will become a matched offer 230 and will beprocessed by applying a credit to the other member 420 credit card. Theissuing party 216 may set up a subaccount internally such that in thefuture the other member 420 will be eligible to receive directlyincentives in the same manner as which the original reward member 1 hasreceived them.

In a further embodiment an advertiser 500 or entity which is issuing thecoupon or redemptive cookie may elect to further promote and incentivizethe original reward member 1 to take action based upon the coupon orredemptive cookie. By way of example the advertiser or entity couldprovide to the original reward member 1 a redemptive benefit 430 eitherby way of merchandise or cash credit in the event that the other member420 undertakes to redeem the coupon or take the redemptive activitycalled for.

As a further embodiment and benefit to the advertiser 500, theparticular rewards which are redeemed by the individuals may bemonitored either by the advertisers or directly by the issuing party inorder to permit the advertiser 500 to further refine and target thereward member 1 and those individuals to whom the reward member 1 hasforwarded the coupons. This information may be stored on a server systemto provide the “accept or reject” information to the advertisers 500.

Referring to FIG. 8, by way of illustration, one aspect of the inventionmay permit the retailer 200 and/or advertiser 500 to change the couponand promotion “on-the-fly”, thus permitting it to be modified inrelationship to the desired anticipated response or other criteria.Thus, for example, the retailer 200 or the advertiser 500 may havedecided to commit $500,000 to a campaign. The retailer 200 or advertiser500 may direct that the coupon processing entity 10 issue only 10% ofthe coupons during the first week of the campaign and then monitorredemptions to determine the redemption rate and the spend amount. Ifthe redemption rate is too high, the retailer 200 or the advertiser 500may reduce the number of coupons which go out the next week, or increasethe amount of the redemptive purchase needed to secure the couponbenefit. These are only examples of activities which may be undertaken.Similarly, the initiative sponsoring entities are not limited toretailers or advertisers and include any entity or individual who mayoffer an incentive for undertaking an activity (eg. Surveying entities,schools, not-for-profits, etc).

A further aspect of the invention may permit the retailer 200 and/or theadvertiser 500 to conduct site specific and product specific promotionsbased upon SKU and other identifier information. Thus, a retailer 200can provide a $10 coupon at locations in Chicago and $15 in New York forthe same merchandise or on the same campaign. Alternatively, theretailer 200 can determine that its inventory of a certain product inone location is too high and can do a promotion based upon SKU data andinventory information to dynamically control its coupon and advertisingcampaigns.

Although the particular embodiments have generally referred to theprovision of cash or credit to either the reward member 1 or the othermember 420, such incentives can also be provided by way of rewardsthrough frequent-flier miles, PayPal services, related discounts onother products, and other incentivizing means.

As another embodiment of the invention and to further benefit theadvertiser 500, retailer 200, or card issuer 216, among others, when anreward member 1 has a credit, debit, prepaid card or card that one canpre-load with funds (issued by a bank or entity where one depositsmoney), a chip or information on the swipe strip which may be placed oncards of all those who opt into the coupon/incentive system 100. Thechip or swipe strip detects the coupon, confirms that the redemption hastaken place per the redemption requirements, and then, once theauthorization is acknowledged, it credits the card with the couponamount. In such a situation, the redemption will be automatic and can beemployed both with retailers that are currently using a single card toclear their transactions and in those instances where a random card isused at a retailer that has a promotion which is being run throughanother credit card issuer whose card is being used with the retailer.

Coupons and rewards, such as those used in the exemplary systemsdescribed above with reference to FIGS. 1 through 10, or any othersystem, may have various intrinsic features and may be specified by anapplication and/or an advertiser. Coupon features may include one ormore of the following: text, a link, an audio file, a video file, animage file, executable code, embedded information, etc.

When a coupon is served, certain parameters may be used to describe how,when, and/or where it should be served and the individual or individualsto whom it should be served. Looking at FIG. 11, certain illustrativeparameters are set forth. These parameters are often referred to as“serving parameters”. Serving parameters may include a search query orsearch results, a user characteristic (e.g., choices made by the user,their geolocation, previous behavior, participation in groups, etc.), ahost or affiliate site (e.g., America Online®, Google®, Yahoo®, etc.),types of other coupons served, when during the day it is to be served,the number of days it is to be served, etc. There are numerous otherserving parameters that may be used in the context of the invention andthe above are merely illustrative.

Serving parameters may be either extrinsic, associated with a coupon orboth and may act as serving conditions or constraints. A retailer 200 orbrand may target the serving of its coupon by specifying that it is onlyto be served on weekdays, only to users in a certain geolocation, havinga card issued by a specific party, etc. The service parameters may alsobe altered on the fly. Thus, a retailer or coupon promoter can make aninitial determination that an aggregate dollar amount of coupons andconcomitant benefits are the goal of their campaign. The coupon promotercan commence the campaign and issue a percentage of the total campaignvalue on the first day. The coupon promoter can monitor the redemptionon a daily or weekly basis and determine the redemption rate and amountof the dollars which have been expended. The coupon promoter Ken stopthe campaign before all of the coupons are sent out or can modify thecampaign by increasing or decreasing the amount of the reward and theother constraints and redemption features prior to the issuance of thenext percentage of the campaign value.

A “document” is to be broadly interpreted to include anymachine-readable and machine-storable work product. A document may be afile, a combination of files, one or more files with embedded links toother files, etc. The files may be of any type, such as text, audio,image, video, etc. Parts of a document to be rendered to an end user canbe thought of as “content” of the document. A document may include“structured data” containing both content (words, pictures, etc.) andsome indication of the meaning of that content (for example, e-mailfields and associated data, HTML tags and associated data, etc.) Couponspots in the document may be defined by embedded information orinstructions. In the context of the Internet, a common document is a Webpage. Web pages often include content and may include embeddedinformation (such as meta information, hyperlinks, etc.) and/or embeddedinstructions (such as Javascript, etc.). In many cases, a document has aunique, addressable, storage location and can therefore be uniquelyidentified by this addressable location. A universal resource locator(URL) is a unique address used to access information on the Internet.

“Document information” may include any information included in thedocument, information derivable from information included in thedocument (referred to as “document derived information”), and/orinformation related to the document (referred to as “document relatedinformation”), as well as an extensions of such information (e.g.,information derived from related information). An example of documentderived information is a classification based on textual content of adocument. Examples of document related information include documentinformation from other documents with links to the instant document, aswell as document information from other documents to which the instantdocument links.

Content from a document may be rendered on a “content renderingapplication or device”. Examples of content rendering applicationsinclude an Internet browser (e.g., Explorer or Netscape), a media player(e.g., an MP3 player, a Realnetworks streaming audio file player, etc.),a viewer (e.g., an Abobe Acrobat pdf reader), etc.

“User information” may include user behavior information and/or userprofile information. It may also include a user's geolocation, or anestimation of the user's geolocation.

“E-mail information” may include any information included in an e-mail(also referred to as “internal e-mail information”), informationderivable from information included in the e-mail and/or informationrelated to the e-mail, as well as extensions of such information (e.g.,information derived from related information). An example of informationderived from e-mail information is information extracted or otherwisederived from search results returned in response to a search querycomposed of terms extracted from an e-mail subject line. Examples ofinformation related to e-mail information include e-mail informationabout one or more other e-mails sent by the same sender of a givene-mail, or user information about an e-mail recipient. Informationderived from or related to e-mail information may be referred to as“external e-mail information.”

Referring to FIG. 9 through FIG. 11, there is shown a high leveldiagrammatic representation of a coupon redemptive system 100 that mayperform or assist in the performance of one or more of the operationsdescribed above. The system 100 may have associated processor(s) 150A,150B, 150C which may also execute instructions, process information,facilitate the transfer of data and communication between related orunrelated processors and databases and can produce targeted coupons andads directed to reward member's 1. The system 100 may include one ormore processors (eg. 254, 300, etc.) which may operate on both receivedand stored data which may be located in one or more storage devicesand/or servers (eg. 150, 180, 310, etc.) to generate information whichmay then be transmitted to the reward member 1. The instructions mayinclude a set of decision rules which incorporate process states or subsets of process states with rule preconditions generally in Boolean form(AND/OR). The processors may also contain instructions which provide aconstraint and adaptive process which may define roles, participants,mathematical and logical relationships, activities, data values, datarelated to present and perceived activities, participant dependent andtime-dependent variables and other options. The processors may beoperated with one or more of the instructions and may have sets ofoptions which may be open, closed, assigned, unassigned, updated,context sensitive, etc. The participants may be assigned differentoptions which may be dynamically modified to permit them to both inspectand engage in the options.

The system may also include one or more consumer aggregators 1010 whohave relationships with one or more banks 1012, 1014, 1016 etc or otherentities within the financial transaction network. The consumeraggregators 1010 may deliver information and/or coupons to customers ofthe banks and may serve as a gateway to the customers to enroll them asreward members 1.

As may be appreciated by reference to FIG. 10, other entities mayparticipate within the financial network and become a part of the system100. For example, the card issuing entity 216 may have an affiliationwith an affinity entity and co-issue a card 216A to its members. Thus,AARP® may co-issue a card 216A with a bank and provide it to itsmembers. Those members may, through AARP® and the card issuing entity216, become part of the system 100, and receive the benefits of coupons,redemption and engagement in a social network environment.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram of system 100 that may perform one or more ofthe distributions and operations which are described in greater detailthroughout this document and which form part of the present invention.The system 100 may obtain data from input devices 1500 which may beoperatively connected to one or more interface and distribution devicesand processors 1550. System buses (not shown) may be operativelydisposed between the related portions of the system 100 to assist in thetransmission of communication between the various devices and elementsof the system 100. Storage devices 1580, consisting of one or morestorage elements may be incorporated into the system 100 and the datawithin the storage devices 1580 may be operated on by the processors1570 either employing adaptive process specifications 1590 or as theresult of external operations. Processors 1570 may execute machineexecutable instructions in any number of languages and operating ondifferent operating systems such as Linux, by way of example only. Thesystem 100 may be comprised of microprocessors embodied in personalcomputers or in distributed facilities or server farms.

Referring to FIG. 13 though FIG. 15, there are shown illustratively anetwork which may be employed to interconnect variously user devices 140(1) through 140(n) including mobile devices, servers and processors, andthe incentive delivery system to one another. The network may alsoadvantageously be designed and configured to interconnect third partiesand other entities and resources including Internet, intranet, directconnections, local area networks, wide area networks, metropolitan areanetworks via wired and or wireless protocol and/or standard systems. Inthe examples depicted it can be appreciated that the user devices may becapable of storing one or more applications which may receive and/orforward coupons and ads, among other things to and from each other andto and from other data structures. The content may include instantmessages, enhanced messages, SMS messages and other content both visual,text, graphics, voice messages and other data.

The system 100 may be utilized to provide a distributed application ofthe benefit of the reward. The reward member 1 may either individuallyor through a social networking site 4000 determine and log an action tohave some or all of the benefit sent to another party including acharity. The reward member 1 may permit their actions of purchasing andreceiving a benefit to be logged on the social networking website4000/4500 and thereafter communicated to others who populate the sitewith a description of the action taken. The reward member 1 may formwithin the social network site a subgroup 4500 to participate and followthe reward member's actions. The social network site 4000 mayalternatively be coupled to another site 4500 to permit the members ofthe social network site to see what actions are being taken by thereward member 1 and others on that other site. Thus when a reward member1 is seen as purchasing something at the other site and obtaining thebenefit of a coupon or discount the other members of the socialnetworking website will be advised of the action and, particularly ifthe reward member 1 is someone who is highly followed within the socialnetworking website, the other members may also engage in similarpurchasing and redemptive activity.

An alternative to the above and another aspect of the invention is wherea member of a social networking website identifies his use of one ormore credit, debit or other transaction cards so that the use of thetransaction card is sent to the social website. The reward member 1 mayelect to have the incentive processing entity send the use informationto the social networking site or may opt to have the information sent bysome other entity. The information transmitted to the social networksite may contain information about the particular transaction, themerchant involved, the location of the merchant or entity, the amount ofthe reward and other information that the reward member 1 perceives willbe of interest to other within the social network.

It is another aspect and embodiment of an aspect of the invention thatthe use of coupons and redemptions may be employed as a form ofalternative currency. Thus, by way of example and referring to FIG. 15,it will be appreciated that both within and without the social network,the individuals who have redeemed a coupon will some credit. Theindividuals within a social network 4000 may trade those credits amongone another or sell them on eBay or some other auction site or tradethem in an exchange which facilitates the transfer of the credits.Although this may be more easily accomplished when the credits areretailer or brand specific, it is also feasible to do it when thecredits are other than a simple cash payment or credit to the rewardmember 1. Thus, by way of example a $10 credit at Home Depot® may beworth (and exchanged for) an $8 credit at Lord & Taylor or a $6 creditat Abercrombie & Fitch.

Referring to FIG. 14 and FIG.15 and as a further aspect of theinvention, the system 100 may permit users to share their respectivelocation and activity by checking in through their credit card 210 andmobile device 140. Contrary to situations where a member of a socialnetwork 4000 must remember to check in to permit others to share theircurrent experience and activities, the current invention may permit thesystem 100 to look into and be authorized by the reward member 1 toprovide location and activity data automatically when they use theircard. The information relayed to others within the social network 4000may be augment by permitting the reward member 1 to provide additionaltext or review of what they did . . . “lord and taylor was awesome—greatselection” or “Great atmosphere at Bar XXXX and their happy hour is 50%off”. The latter example would require a check in via mobile or lettingthe bar swipe the reward member's 1 card so that they could open a tab.All of this would permit advertisers and coupon sponsors to targetprecisely what the reward member 1 is doing and focus the incentive onthem and would permit the advertisers and coupon sponsors to do thetargeting on the fly.

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the informationwhich is obtained from the reward members, both individually and throughtheir social networks, may be advantageously employed to generatecriteria and specifications to refine the redemptive process andgenerate coupons and advertisements which are more targeted, both as toindividuals and products. The use of such data is a part of thisinvention and its use is part of the adaptive process specification,constraints, allowed and disallowed actions which are part of thesystem. The data may, alternatively, be used by others both within andwithout the system for other commercial purposes generally related toinquiries which assist in determining how individuals behave and howthey may be motivated to act or behave.

While various systems and methods have been described herein above,they've been set forth and presented by way of example only and are notin any way designed as a limitation. By way of example embodiments ofthe present disclosure can be performed by hardware and firmware,application modules and the like, and can be executable and/or residenton systems and devices shown herein and otherwise known in the art. Theembodiments of the above disclosure are not in any way limited to aparticular operating environment or instructions written in certainprogrammable language nor they limited to particular mobile devices orother related communications and processing units. The processingmodules suitable for carrying out the embodiments of the presentdisclosure along with the software firmware and applications may beresident on one or more devices without varying from the spirit or scopeof the present disclosure. Similarly separate module to be connectedtogether or several modules may be used on an integrated basis withoutviolating or otherwise being outside of the scope of the inventivedisclosures set forth herein.

1. A computer implemented, opt-in incentive transaction systemcomprising: a. a consumer designated incentive receiving device; b. anincentive comprising at least a plurality of redemptive actionrequirements wherein one requirement is a transaction; c. at least oneprocessor for processing the incentive; c. at least one storage devicefor storing processor-executable instructions; d. means for controllingthe at least one processor to execute the instructions and to deliverthe incentive to the consumer incentive receiving device; e. means forreceiving data from a point-of-sale device reporting the transactionassociated with the incentive; f. means for comparing the transactionand redemptive action with the redemptive action requirements anddetermining whether the redemptive action requirements have beensatisfied; g. means for transmitting confirmation to the consumer of thesatisfaction of the redemptive action requirements; and, h. means fortransmitting the incentive in accordance with the consumer'sinstruction.
 2. The system of claim 1 further comprising an opt-inregistration module.
 3. The system of claim 1 further comprisingcommunication means for transmitting at least one item of consumertransaction data to a second receiving device.
 4. The system of claim 1further comprising communication means for transmitting at least oneitem of consumer transaction data to at least one user of a socialnetworking application.
 5. The system of claim 4 further comprisingselection means to permit the consumer to select the at least one userof the social networking application.
 6. The system of claim 1 furthercomprising communication means for transmitting at least one item ofconsumer transaction data between users of a social networkingapplication.
 7. The system of claim 6 further comprising selection meansto permit the consumer to select the users of the social networkingapplication.
 8. The system of claim 1 further comprising at least oneprocessor for determining what activity is undertaken by at least oneuser of a social networking application in response to receipt of atleast one item of consumer transaction data and processing said activityfor possible application to the processor-executable instructions. 9.The system of claim 1 wherein the transaction is a purchase.
 10. Thesystem of claim 1 wherein a redemption action requirement is the use ofa financial network identifier.
 11. The system of claim 10 wherein thefinancial system identifier is a magnetically readable strip.
 12. Thesystem of claim 10 wherein the financial system identifier is a creditcard.
 13. The system of claim 10 wherein the financial system identifieris a debit card.
 14. The system of claim 10 wherein the financial systemidentifier is a reward card.
 15. The system of claim 1 wherein theincentive receiving device is a mobile device.
 16. The system of claim 2herein the opt-in registration module is a consumer aggregator.
 17. Thesystem of claim 1 further comprising a processor configured to receiveconsumer requests for an incentive.
 18. The system of claim 17 furthercomprising processor control means configured to transmit the incentiverequested by the consumer.
 19. The system of claim 17 further comprisingprocessor control means configured to transmit an incentive determinedby the system to be within predetermined rules relating to the requestedincentive.
 20. The system of claim 1 in which the processor-executableinstructions include at least one predetermined rule relating to thetransmission of incentives.
 21. The system of claim 1 in which theprocessor-executable instructions include a series of predeterminedrules relating to the transmission of incentives.
 22. The system ofclaim 21 in which the predetermined rules may be adapted in relation todata received by the system.
 23. The system of claim 22 in which thedata received by the system comprises statistical data related to aconsumer.
 24. The system of claim 22 in which the data received by thesystem comprises statistical data related to consumers.
 25. The systemof claim 22 in which the data received by the system comprisesstatistical data related to redemptive actions undertaken by consumers.26. The system of claim 22 in which the data received by the systemcomprises statistical data related to the frequency of actionsundertaken by consumers.
 28. The system of claim 6 in which the datareceived by the system comprises statistical data related to contactsbetween the users of the social networking application.
 29. The systemof claim 21 in which the series of predetermined rules relating to thetransmission of incentives includes at least one rule related tolocation of the consumer.
 30. The system of claim 21 in which the seriesof predetermined rules relating to the transmission of incentivesincludes at least one rule related to the incentive redemption location.31. The system of claim 21 in which the series of predetermined rulesrelating to the transmission of incentives includes at least one rulerelated to inventory.
 32. The system of claim 21 in which the series ofpredetermined rules relating to the transmission of incentives includesat least one rule related to SKU information.
 33. The system of claim 21in which the series of predetermined rules relating to the transmissionof incentives includes at least one rule related to UPC information. 34.The system of claim 21 in which the series of predetermined rulesrelating to the transmission of incentives may be modified.
 35. Thesystem of claim 21 in which the series of predetermined rules relatingto the transmission of incentives may include a plurality of rulesrelating to the same parameter.
 36. The system of claim 1 in which thedelivery of the incentive is conditional upon a consumer opting in tothe system.